Often I have to laugh heartily at human-shaped words – weeds is one of them. So a herb is not a herb, say a weed, only because it eludes human control. Because it does not do what we want, it becomes an absurdity. There are many things that have become preposterous because they are uncontrollable: Pain. Death. Disease. Most people would like to destroy all of them, like the weeds that stain their garden.